


I Smile Because I Want To

by Retifer



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anxiety, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), F/M, Gay Keith (Voltron), Homesick Lance (Voltron), Keith drinks some tea, M/M, Other, Panic Attacks, Selkie Lance (Voltron), Selkies, Shiro and Keith are related, Shiro doesn't physically show up but, Slow Burn, Tags May Change, Werewolf Keith (Voltron), Werewolves, Witch Allura (Voltron), magic n shit, romance? on my account? it's more likely than you'd think, there's some angst but it's not completely depressing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-03-27 02:00:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13870716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Retifer/pseuds/Retifer
Summary: ' Keith blinks, tilting his head to the side. Under the scent of shampoo, raspberry-scented body-wash, and overheated technology, is the smell of warm, salty, water. '▼Keith, isolating himself in a small town, stumbles across a strange boy who smells like warmth & the ocean.Lance, landlocked, is trying to find a way to cope with the loss of his coat.





	I Smile Because I Want To

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo. this is something i've been thinking about for a minute. it's kind of random? but i love selkies & werewolves, & i thought this was a simple, fun idea.
> 
> my inspiration for this fic is actually a few things: Wolfblood & Song of the Sea (tv show & movie), and Wolf Medicine & Shiver (novels). If you haven't heard of any of those, I recommend them.  
> also, a post i saw on tumblr. i forget who posted it, & i think they may have deleted the post, but in their notes they were basically like "mix stuff up! don't just do vamps & werewolves! mermaids & vamps! or mermaids & werewolves!" & i was like "oooooh, selkies & werewolves" cuz i love animals & shapeshifters.
> 
> this is just the (unedited) prologue, as I am going to write the full thing for camp nanowrimo & then post it after/when I'm close to finishing. i'll probs also edit this when i start posting full chapters.

He hadn’t been expecting to see someone here.

Keith doesn’t even know why he came to the beach in the first place. For the quiet, he guesses? But as he stands in the middle of the mostly deserted strip of sand, with the wind whipping off of the ocean stretching out in front of him, he realizes it wasn’t really worth it. He doesn’t even really _like_ the beach.

The sand always gets in his shoes and socks, rubbing against his skin in an irritating way. There’s always dead things here—and a crap-ton of garbage—so there’s always that lingering _smell_.

And it’s cold.

He huffs out a puff of foggy breath. He regrets it immediately, the stench filling his mouth and nose. He coughs into his sleeve, breathing out as much as he can into the fabric; he’d rather smell his own bad breath than a lovely combination of rotting fish and weed.

The guy sitting in the sand by the waves—who doesn’t seem the least bit bothered by the smell _or_ the cold—jumps and spins around, shoulders hunched.

They kind of awkwardly stare at each other for a moment before the other guy laughs uncomfortably.

“Hey.” He gives a feeble wave, and then half turns back to look at the sea.

Keith barely catches it, but the look he gives the dark waves almost seems... sad.

“Sup.” Keith nods in his direction.

He considers leaving, but something about the guy in front of him makes that seem like the wrong decision.

Or maybe it’s his lack of social skills that makes him stay put.

Whatever the reason, he stands there, sand rubbing against his toes and waves crashing on the shore. The water always washes up, just barely reaching the random dude’s bare feet before receding back into the ocean.

Keith eyes his bare arms, fingers kneading his biceps. He shoves his own hands into his hoodie’s front pocket. He looks past him out towards the sea.

He finds himself taking a few steps forward, until he’s standing only a few feet away from the random guy. He reaches behind him into his backpack’s side pocket and pulls out the paper bag stuffed there.

Keith crinkles the bag as he sticks his hand in the bag and pulls a few fries out. Rando dude looks back at him curiously.

He holds the bag out as he munches on the fries. “Fry?”

He raises an eyebrow and stares for a minute before letting out a half laugh. “Sure.” Random guy sticks his hand into the bag, grabbing a handful.

As the guy turns back to stare at the sea, looking a little less forlorn, Keith blinks, tilting his head to the side. Under the scent of shampoo, raspberry-scented body-wash, and overheated technology, is the smell of warm, salty, water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> casselman is a real place btw. there's actually a little bit of personal backstory to casselman. I used to have a tree farm that we sold a couple years ago in Casselman, ON. it's near the quebec border, so ppl mostly speak french around there. recently i looked it up on google maps &, to my disappointment, the new owners of the place had clearcut the entire forest. it's a very bitter feeling to think about it.
> 
> disclaimer: i'm not an expert on witches/witchcraft. i just did a quick google & tumblr search on herbalism & spells. i'm also putting my own twist on werewolves & selkies (i'm straight up copying the wolves from Wolfblood, cuz those are my fav portrayals of werewolves.  
> for those who don't know; the wolves in Wolfblood are born, not bitten. they turn fully wolf on the full moon & fully human on the new moon (new moon = fatigued. full moon = hype, but also prone to randomly transforming--more than usual. it's kind of a spectrum). every other day they can transform whenever they want, tho they can unintentionally transform when they're extremely emotional/having a panic attack/in pain--this goes both ways (as in, they can randomly transform back into a human if, say, they get shot T-T ).  
> for selkies, there's no changes except different seals from different parts of the world are a thing in this universe. Lance is a Caribbean monk seal selkie).


End file.
